Tiris Kahar
Lives move in a certain order. A straight line. A path set out by the Light and the laws of nature. A set of basic milestones--the most basic milestones--mark the common points which are so familiar to us all. You are born once, live one life, and die one death. This is true for most, but not for all. Some men are born twice, and so they are lucky enough to live two lives. Tiris Kahar is one such man. Growing Pains Tiris Kahar was born mid-winter in the last days of the year 583, the eldest of three sons. On the surface, his childhood was typical for any young noblemen. He spent most of his time at play and in lessons, of course. At play, he distinguished himself as being an athletic child, and although he was not brilliant, he was diligent when it came to academics. In general, he was a happy and successful child. However, this normal-looking life masked the boy's nearly constant pain, for like all Kahar men, he suffered beneath the Shadow's curse. Sores--brown, pustulant, and painful--grew thick over Tiris's left foot and hand. Each day, they had to be cleaned, rubbed with ointments, and bandaged carefully, all of which was tremendously painful for young Tiris. Not to speak of the running, jumping, climbing, and occasional fighting that is commonplace in the life of an active young man. Tiris’s dealt with the pain as best he could, and for the most part, it didn’t hold him back. On the rare occasion where his will failed him, his mother was there to give him the encouragement he needed. Delia Mikin, Tiris's mother, was an independent and headstrong woman, both traits which she attempted to instill in her boys. She believed this could be achieved by parenting as little as possible. Still, she was always willing to give her boys a kick in the seat, when needed. "I know it hurts," she would tell Tiris. "It hurt yesterday, and it is going to hurt until the day you die. Now get out there and play, or stay here and get hit." Thankfully, Delia softened a bit with age, and she now administers a charity for the people of the Shadow District, running things from the comfort of her estate in Aegisport. If Tiris's mother was distant, then his father was absent, appearing once or twice a year, for a week or less at a time. Throughout his life, Tiris rarely saw his father, Praes Kahar, a lifelong Bladesman who served on the East Aegis, the farthest possible post from Tiris's home in Aegisport. Even when he was at home, Praes spent most of his time with Delia in private, doing what lovers often-separated do when reunited. Though few, the words that he shared with Tiris were full of praise, and Tiris has always been left with the impression that his father approved him. While on watch one winter night, near Tiris's 14th birthday, Praes got frostbite on two fingers of his left hand. The fingers were removed, but Praes died of a subsequent infection. Tiris mourned his death, but not for long. Before his death, Praes expressed to Tiris's mother that he wanted the young man to get some martial training, and Delia wholeheartedly agreed, so she made the arrangements. Tiris's tutor was an older man, of an age far beyond that which most men are lucky enough to reach, and a former Imperial Horseman to boot. Tiris thought that, to reach such an age as a Horseman, you must be very good or very lucky. Assuming the former, he paid careful attention to his lessons. Wearing armor was hard for Tiris. Holding the reins of a horse was hard. Riding was hard. Running was hard. Because of his pain, none of these things came easily to Tiris. But then there was fighting. Perhaps because of his pain, fighting came very easily to Tiris. What didn't come easily, Tiris worked on obsessively. His training was his passion, and it consumed the better part of his teenage years, after which, the young Kahar entered military service as a cavalry captain in the Emperor’s Blades. Tempering Tiris’s time with the Blades was a time of strict discipline and toil. He continued to focus rigorously on his training and the quality of his service, to the exclusion of nearly everything else. His foot and hand, his curse, was getting worse by the day. He could feel it closing in on him, and so he felt he needed to stay sharp, fit, perfect, if he was going to overcome it. He went years at a time without returning home, often taking on more duties instead of leave. Early in his military career, Tiris developed a reputation for being a talented, but strict and uncompromising soldier. He held others to very high standards--the same standards he held for himself--and was often disliked because of it. He had few comrades in the Blades, and at times he went out of his way to keep his peers at a distance. In the Blades, much of Tiris’s time was spent at rest, training, or mundane patrols. But on occasion, something of greater substance would come along, and when it did, Tiris reinforced his reputation as a skilled combatant. Brigands and murderers found him to be a relentless pursuer, and he brought a few of them to justice, which was often synonymous with the end of his blade. In the end, years of over-dedication took their toll on Tiris. The pain was getting worse, and he had lost the bold stupidity of his childhood. He could no longer keep up with his own standards, and over time, he began to take his frustrations out on the men. This change in performance did not go unnoticed. Hallard Seamel, then the Horsemaster of the Imperial Horsemen, had been watching the career of young Tiris, in whom he saw a potential Horseman. He was most displeased with the downward turn that Tiris’s career had taken, so he decided to take a more active role in shaping the young Kahar. Hallard met with Tiris on many occasions, and the two of them quickly developed a mentor-protégé relationship. Tiris was already a talented rider and swordsman, so most of Hallard’s lessons were about matters of character. The changes were small at first. A soldier misunderstood an order, and Tiris forgave him for it. Leave was offered, and Tiris took it. He began to speak with the men, eat with them, play cards with them. He loosened up, and to his surprise, no great doom emerged to swallow him. Wildcat at Rest At Hallard’s suggestion, Tiris used his time away from the service to court a Lady and raise a family of his own. Through Hallard, he had met Corah Seamel, the Horsemaster’s cousin, and the two of them began a lengthy courtship, often interrupted by the demands of Tiris’s military service. Corah was a kind and self-sacrificing young woman--little more than girl, when Tiris met her--and she was always understanding when it came to Tiris’s absences. Together or apart, they were very much in love with one another, and exchanged letters as often as they could. In the spring of 609 ATA, Tiris and Corah were married at a large ceremony in Aegisport. Tiris and Corah had a short and blissful honeymoon before Tiris had to leave again. He would not be returning to the Blades, however. Hallard Seamel’s wedding gift to the young Kahar was a bronze helm and a place in the Imperial Horsemen. Life in Bronze Tiris was 25 years old when he joined the Imperial Horseman. He would wear the bronze of the Imperial Horseman for another 14 years. These years would prove to be the most difficult of his life. Tiris’s first two years with the Horsemen were full of the heady, intoxicating stuff that fills the legends of the Imperial Horsemen. Injustice was fought, evils slain, and the will of the Emperor was brought to the people of Fastheld on four thundering hooves. Back at home, Tiris had a daughter, but as swept-up as he was in his new life, he barely saw her. The same was true for Corah. When he thought about it, Tiris was pained that he didn’t see his family more often. However, he did not think of them much. Tiris left his old reputation behind. In the Horsemen, he was known as being an honorable and stalwart warrior and companion. His justice was tempered with mercy, and his zeal was tempered with wisdom. Great things were expected of Tiris Kahar, and his position at Hallard’s side led many to believe that he would be the next Horsemaster. And then, the Second Wildling War came. The exhilarating and adventuresome times were gone, swept away by a dark and bloody war. A war that, in the early days, looked hopeless. Tiris saw far more battle, and greater horrors, than he thought possible. Though the Blades took the brunt of the war, Horsemen were lost as well, and Tiris lost many comrades, including one of particular importance, during the Stand of Eastwatch. The Horsemen thundered into Eastwatch, flanking the Wildlings and crushing them against the Blades who still held the town. As always, Tiris rode in at Hallard’s side. During the confusion of the charge and the subsequent melee, Tiris lost Hallard. The Wildlings were surrounded, but they had the advantage of numbers, and that battle was the hardest and bloodiest that Tiris would ever fight. Afterwards, he found the Horsemaster’s body, along with the bodies of many, many more of his friends. The Second Wildling War turned with that battle, but the ranks of the Imperial Horsemen were decimated and the Horsemaster was dead. For Tiris, things were never the same after that. He fought out the rest of the war with the remnants of the Imperial Horsemen. Other Horsemen were lost, but Tiris did not feel their deaths as much anymore. When the war was over, many of the surviving Horsemen gave up their bronze and returned to simpler lives. Tiris was tempted to do the same, but his loyalty to the dead Horsemaster held him. Though he remained a Horseman, Tiris avoided combat as much as he could. Part of this was his experience in the war, but the rest was his worsening curse. The war had aged him far more than the few years it had lasted. The pain was too much, now, and he became more of an administrator than a warrior. He devoted the rest of his time in the Horsemen to rebuilding their ranks, recruiting, training, and other endeavors that kept him off of the field of battle. The positive side of Tiris’s new administrative role was that it afforded him more time to spend with his family. Another daughter followed, and he was finally able to have a normal family life, a life that he had never had before, even as a child. In time, Serath Kahar arose as the new Horsemaster, and in short order, the Imperial Horsemen were returned to the glory of their halcyon days before the Second Wilding War. Tiris nearly returned to the field because of it. Were he a younger man, he would have, but Tiris was in his 30s, now. He limped badly, and his left hand was all but useless. It pained him to see others living the life that he wished so badly to return to, but at the same time, he was glad to see that the Horsemen recovered, and so he stayed in their service for many more years. In the end, losing a second Horsemaster was too much for Tiris to take. In 621, after then-Horsemaster Serath Kahar was (supposedly) killed, Tiris retired his bronze helm once and for all. Though he was sorry to leave the company of such great men, Tiris thought himself to be too worn down by age, war, loss, and the curse that plagued him worse than ever. With a heavy heart, he returned to his family in Aegisport, devoting himself to them anew. The Best and Worst The next six years were full of great happiness and great sadness for Tiris. Surrounded by his family, he had some of the best and most fulfilling days of his life. The torments of war were all but forgotten, and though his hand and foot pained him terribly, his joy was not deadened by their pain. In a way, Tiris was relieved to have the burden of service lifted off his shoulders. He no longer felt the pull of duty and obligation. Mostly, he closed himself off from the world and focused on his family, a world of his own making. Proudly, he sat side-by-side with his wife and watched his girls grow into splendid young women. Though Tiris shut himself off from the world, staying in his estate, his wife loved the streets of Aegisport too much to stay shut inside. It was on those streets, in 626 ATA, that she contracted the plague, the very same that killed Emperor Talus Kahar XIV. Though Corah survived the plague itself, it weakened her greatly, and she died a few months later from an infection to her lungs. Tiris mourned Corah’s death through the winter of 626 and into the spring of 627. His daughters, whom he sent away during their mother’s illness, were kept away, and Tiris devoted himself zealously to his grief. During the darkest of times, the Light comes to redeem its faithful with new life. So the devout say, and not without reason, for that is exactly what happened. The Light returned to Fastheld, and with it came a second life for Tiris, who had nearly reached the end of his first. A New Life Tiris awoke one Seedwarming morning, late Spring in 627, to find that his foot and hand suddenly didn’t hurt so badly. They had hurt every day for as long as he could remember, but today, they were but a dim throbbing. He removed the bandages and was shocked to find the sores healing, no longer stinging with pain. Over the next week, they healed completely. As they healed, so did Tiris. The Kahar nobleman, now in his mid-40s, was reborn in the relief of his curse. His mourning ended in short order, and he once again reveled in things which he had not done for years, simple physical activities like running, riding, fighting, and training. He felt his youth return in a few short weeks. If the Wildling war had taken ten years of his youth, then the loss of his curse had just given those years back, and with interest. As Tiris’s vitality returned, so did his sense of duty. He was no longer a cripple. He was a warrior again. He could be of use to his House and his Empire. How would he serve now? Tiris's answer came on the 19th day of Kilning in the year 627. He was summoned to Dawnstar Keep by Serath Kahar, who appointed Tiris as the new Duke of House Kahar. The Sovereign Prince also gifted Tiris with the Sunkissed blade Azuredge as a sign of respect and loyalty. 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